


Kohav (כּוֹכָב) - Stars

by TessaDoesThings



Series: Kadosh (קָדוֹשׁ) - Holy [3]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Katooni/Zatt Slowburn, Nautolan world building, Nautolans are Space Jews, Star Wars AU - Soft Wars, Sukkot | Tabernacles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:27:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26928112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TessaDoesThings/pseuds/TessaDoesThings
Summary: Zatt walks Katooni through a traditional Sukkot ritual ahead of a family gathering.
Relationships: Katooni & Zatt (Star Wars)
Series: Kadosh (קָדוֹשׁ) - Holy [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1942474
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27
Collections: Open Source Soft Wars





	Kohav (כּוֹכָב) - Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I know Sukkot ended yesterday. In my defense, I fell asleep at my keyboard.

Katooni passes out of the the giant wooden doors to the CD jedi temple, and hurries down the handful of steps. It’s not as many stairs as there were to climb back at Coruscant, but Katooni counts 55 steps from the door to the ground where Zatt should be waiting for her. When she reaches the bottom of the stairs, she can’t see Zatt, so she gives a gentle tug on their bond, and reaches around the courtyard with the Force. She finds the familiar force signature rushing through the courtyard, and a sense of urgency accompanying it. It rounds the corner, and Katooni finds herself face to face with her best friend.

“I’m so sorry I’m late!”  
“I hope I didn’t leave you waiting too long!”

They both apologize at the same time, and then after a beat of silence Katooni breaks down into a fit of giggles, and Zatt laughs as well. A general sense of amusement hangs in the air around them both.

“In that case, we should go before we’re both late again.” Zatt comments and Katooni grins in agreement.

“I would hate to test Master Eerin’s patience.” Katooni responds and then offers an arm to Zatt the way she had seen people in silly historical holos do. He takes it with the same air of silliness masquerading as seriousness.

“It would be terrible if we reach the end of her endless patience, wouldn’t it? Not that her patience has an ending. That I know of yet.” Zatt grins at her. Katooni doesn’t fight the grin that spreads across her face.

They emerge from the short path through the Concorde Dawn forest into a clearing. They're not far from Master Fisto’s house, which makes sense if Katooni thinks about it at all but still manages to surprise her. In the center of the clearing stands a shack that definitely wasn’t here the last time Zatt had brought her here.

Three walls of the shack are built of the huge tall, thin reeds that grow to the west of the temple, and the fourth one is open, facing towards them. The roof, however, has only a small handful of the reeds, and while there are giant strips of dried seaweed in loose stripes across those, some portions don’t even have that.[1]

“Zatt, I think those new flying jumpscares stole some of your roof.” Katooni commented. Zatt snorted.

“No, it’s supposed to be like that. When you stand inside, you have to be able to see the sun. Or suns. Or stars. Whatever happens to be seen when you look up.” Katooni flushed deep red in response,

“See, this is why I asked you to show me this before dinner with your family tonight.” She told the Nautolan. He grinned in response.

“You’d like to not mix up the meaning of the holidays in front of Shel’ya again?”

“Never. Again.” Katooni gritted out, but she was smiling. She could feel the amusement she felt mirrored back at her through the force.

“Now come one, let me show you how to wave the lulav before Shel’ya decides doing it improperly is the worst sin you could have considered.”

“Wave the what?” Katooni cries out as Zatt heads into the shack, reemerging with a bundle of different kinds of leaves.

“The Lulav.” Zatt said, waving the leaves. “And also, the etrog.” He said, holding up a yellow fruit, which had a nub on one end. Zatt hands the bundle and fruit to her.

“Etrog in your left hand. Before the blessing, the nub goes down, and then after that, turn the nub upwards. Although, either Master Fisto or Shel’ya will probably be the one in charge of that tonight.” Katooni takes the fruit and grips it in her left hand. “In your right hand, you have the three leaves. The _hardass_ ,” Zatt hands her a long branch, covered in medium-sized teardrop-shaped leaves. “The _lulav_ , which the whole bundle is named after.” This is a long, thin, brittle set of leaves, tied together with a thin rope. “And the last one is the _aravah_.” This is a pair of long, bendy sticks with long weepy leaves. [2]

“And I… wave these?” Katooni asks, adjusting her grip around the three leaves.

“Start by facing east – the direction of the open side of the Sukkah. From there, wave the stick three times in each of the six directions around you.” Zatt reaches around Katooni’s shoulders, and she feels his hands close around hers. “Three times _hodu,_ or east.”

Zatt guides her through three movements. “Then, three times _ki,_ or south.” Katooni goes to turn that way, but Zatt takes one of his hands to stop her, and the brief message in the force suggests not turning, so Katooni stays facing east. “From there, _tov,_ west, behind you. After that, North, which is also called _ki_ because language is just like that.” Katooni cackles, presses back against Zatt behind her to avoid falling over.

“Is the next way up? Or down?” Katooni asks.

“Right the first time. The next time is up, _le-olam_. And then after that, c _hasdo,_ down.” Katooni finishes waving her leaves.

“I do feel a little like a fool now.” She comments offhand. Zatt laughs.

“We all do. It’s part of the experience.”

“Next time? We’ll do the Tholothian Harvest Festival instead. Less leaf waving.” Zatt snorts, and Katooni cherishes the feeling of them together in the Force. It always feels right.

**Author's Note:**

> 1 Jewish Law states you must be able to see the stars from inside the sukkah.[return to text]
> 
> 2 In the real world, the three branches are mrytle, palm and willow, in that order.[return to text]
> 
> I didn't go into detail about what exactly sukkot is: it's a seven day harvest festival, and you can read more about it in these places: [1](https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/lulav-and-etrog-the-four-species/), [2](https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-sukkah/), & [3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lulav).


End file.
